Western Province come out on top to defend IPT crown

Raath was the star of the tournament walking away as the Men’s player of the tournament as well as top goal scorer.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Raath says it was the perfect final that a player would want to play in.

“Ja, I think it was a really good final. We went up a few times but then we let our guard down. It was the perfect final we would’ve wanted to play. Southern Gauteng put in a really good performance and credit to them for giving us a really good go,” said Raath

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The match ended 4-4 after regulation time which sent the side into a penalty shootout, and Raath praised Western Province’s goalkeeper Daniel Dylan.

“I think our keeper Daniel Dylan did a fantastic job to stay calm. They are a very skillful team so I think to just stay calm and control was impressive.”

He added that it was a massive honour to have won the top goalscorer award and said that it wouldn’t have been possible had it not been for his teammates.

Following the rollercoaster of a game in which they scored and conceded everytime, the Western Province coach Fadl Ebrahim said that his philosophy was to defend to win.

“So, the philosophy that I have is to defend to win but if you are going to score four and then we are going to score five. So, I live by that and it was quite entertaining,” said Ebrahim

Photo Credit: Marcel Sigg